What the heck do you do at a place called Gaia Ashram Ecovillage, anyway? Good question. That’s the question I’ll be answering in this article… that is: What’s my daily routine look like at Gaia?
In the last article you learned about my misadventures in getting to Gaia.
Before you dive into my daily activities at
Gaia, you’ll take a look at the setup at Gaia…
Ecovillage Setting
The main room, called the Sala, is the center of activities that include many work activities, as well as eating and education. It’s maybe about 10×20 meters and, although it has walls on all four sides, there are four doorways, and various openings all around – with no closing doors or windows.
Above the sala is the dorm with two rows of mattresses, each with a mosquito net hanging above. It is completely open with just a wooden railing surrounding it.
The kitchen is about 10 meters from the sala and the bathrooms and mens’ showers are just a bit further away.
Bathrooms and women’s showers are off in another direction from the sala.
As you walk further beyond the kitchen there’s a “mini sala” where I frequently escaped to do some work and make phone calls.
Then there’s the food forest with various types of fruits – like pineapple, banana, berries and more.
Just a few steps further is the tool shed and beyond is the garden where there are all kinds of plants – like morning glory, tomatoes, watermelon, green beans, bananas, spinach, and much more..
Then there’s the pond where we would cool off on many hot days where the temps were often around 100 degrees.
Beyond that was Om and Tom’s house and then the actual forest with big trees and lots and lots of mosquitos!
Closer to the bathrooms and women’s showers are a few more small houses for the longer term volunteers, as well as guests seeking more private accommodation.
There are winding paths that connect it all together. Although the description of all these things must make you think that it’s a big place, it’s really quite small…probably smaller than the size of a football field.
But if you wander further beyond there are rice and soybean fields as well as chicken and duck coups. (We had duck eggs!)
I think that’s enough for now…so you’ll get more on my daily activities in the next article. “See you” then!